Group ritual has been a cornerstone of spiritual practice since time immemorial, yet its history and importance have often been overlooked by occultists of the modern age. This book is the first comprehensive presentation of group-oriented rites for modern magicians inspired by the works of Aleister Crowley. It contains rituals written by Crowley for his own magic circles, many of them unpublished during his lifetime; plus rare ancient texts that were Crowley’s own inspiration in turn.

The rituals are newly edited and explained by Rodney Orpheus who brings to this volume decades of experience in performing and teaching Aleister Crowley’s rituals within Crowley’s magical order Ordo Templi Orientis. He introduces each ritual with a clear overview, setting each in its historical context and explaining its function and mode of operation; followed by detailed notes on setting and performance of each one.

Whether absolute beginner or seasoned expert, magicians of all paths will find this volume to be an eminently workable and extremely powerful grimoire spanning centuries from ancient Mithraic and Bacchanalian rites, Goetia, and Gnosticism, right up to present day Crowleyan invocations and sexual magick.

“..there are presently very few individuals living today who are qualified by education and experience to do [this], and even fewer with the writing talent and communication skills to bring it all to life on the printed page. Brother Orpheus is the incarnation of both these aspects of genius. Whether he is expanding upon classic Crowley rituals or creating and developing his own Thelemic ceremonies, the magician reader can be confident he or she is in good hands.”

Rodney Orpheus, the modern Minstrel of Thelema, is back with another vibrant, creative, and irreverent effort that is sure to please and enlighten as it broadcasts the good news that the Lord of the Aeon is alive and well. This is a practical, lively, and meticulously documented manual designed for group magical workings. It admirably fulfils its task—bringing new insight to both published and unpublished rituals with diagrams and detailed instructions for movement, apparel, and Temple setup. It includes rituals from Crowley and others, and its important appendices round out an excellent work.

– James Wasserman, author of To Perfect This Feast: A Performance Commentary on the Gnostic Mass, etc.

In addition to gifting us with a long-needed anthology of Aleister Crowley’s group rituals, Rodney Orpheus’ “Grimoire,” with its inclusion of rituals inspired by Crowley, is also a course on how to take older texts and adapt them to one’s needs. The cookbook-style “list of ingredients and preparation time” that precedes each ceremony handily gives aspiring ritualists a heads up on how many Fratres or Sorores are needed, how much memorization is required, and how complex the ritual equipment and staging is. Eminently readable and (most importantly) usable, Grimoire of Aleister Crowley will keep many a magical group busy for years to come.

– Richard Kaczynski, author of Perdurabo

With this book, Rodney Orpheus has produced the most significant Thelemic book written this century. Grimoire of Aleister Crowley adds a key missing fragment to the corpus of Crowley’s Thelemic rituals – a coherent set of group rituals which enhance personal practices and expand effective magical interaction between practitioners. Drawing on unpublished Crowley material, the author has vitalised the rituals with the spirit of Thelemic practice, rather than slavishly following standard formulae. This book is going to end up being standard reading for numerous groups,and is sure to cause a stir, and may even start a revolution.

– David Rankine, author of The Goetia of Dr. Rudd, The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet, etc.

“This book is all purple and pleasure, a revelation of fragments of rituals by Aleister Crowley which were half concealed, expounding the mantras and the spells and propagating the essence of Thelema. Rodney Orpheus has provided an original and enchanting work for the twenty-first century which opens the gates to the palace and offers a pathway to the mysteries hidden therein. The Grimoire of Aleister Crowley is sure to become a modern classic.”

Rodney Orpheus has here provided a wide-ranging introduction to liturgical science for 21st-century magicians, as well as collecting valuable traditional and original materials for the purposes of consummating group operations of magick. Grimoire of Aleister Crowley highlights the aims and innovations of the Great Beast in the field of group ceremony, and includes rituals by Crowley never previously available in book form. It should be valuable to Thelemites both within and outside of formal initiatory societies, and to students of the occult in general.

– T Polyphilus, Ep. Gn.

Grimoire of Aleister Crowley
Group Rituals in the Age of Thelema
by Rodney Orpheus

with contributions byJohn Dee, Jules Doinel, Euripides, G.R.S. Mead,

Cathryn Orchard, and Howard White

Contents

Introduction by Lon Milo DuQuette
Preface
A Note on Safety

The Ritual of the Mark of the Beast
The Invocation of Horus
Invocation of the Holy Spirit
A Ritual to Invoke HICE
A Rite of Isis
Roots of Thelema I – A Mithraic Liturgy
Roots of Thelema II – The Bacchanal
Roots of Thelema III – Goetia
The Brazen Head
An Evocation of Bartzabel the Spirit of Mars
The Supreme Ritual
The Ritual Of Consecration Of An High Priest Of L.I.L.
The Ritual Of Initiation of a Thelemite
Breaking of Bread
The Mass of Babalon

Appendices:
Rituals from Liber O
The 72 Spirits of the Goetia
Three Holy Books
Ritual J
Cakes of Light

Bibliography

About the Author

Rodney Orpheus was born in Northern Ireland and since then has lived in Hamburg, Germany; and Los Angeles, California; he currently lives in Co. Cavan, Ireland. He is a well-known musician, both with his own band The Cassandra Complex and as producer of other acts. Rodney has gained an international reputation as an expert on modern music and computer technology, and lectures widely on these subjects; as well as on his other interests in games design and occultism. His first book Abrahadabra achieved widespread success as an accessible introduction to the work and thought of Aleister Crowley. Rodney has been a member of Crowley’s fraternal magical order Ordo Templi Orientis for over two decades, and has held several senior positions within the Order.